


Are you gonna break?

by allegedlyanandroid



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Banter, Flirting, Gavin Reed Being Less of an Asshole, Kissing, M/M, Non-Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Non-graphic injuries, On Gavin's Part Anyway, Sort-Of Implied Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed Being Siblings, android repairs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24409312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allegedlyanandroid/pseuds/allegedlyanandroid
Summary: Even androids are injured sometimes; it's certainly something Nines can attest to. Gavin, being the responsible adult that he is, takes it upon himself to fix Nines right back up again.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 14
Kudos: 147





	Are you gonna break?

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Save Yourself' by Kaleo, mostly because it's the song I imagined Gavin humming in this story.

**Are you gonna break?**

“Let me see.” Nines shoves the pending diagnostics result to the side and his eyes focus on his ill-mannered partner, who’s sitting perched on his desk with his feet dangling a good five inches off the ground.

"Why?”

“Because.”

A flare of irritation nestles its way through his coding against his will. “That is not a valid argument.”

Gavin levels him with a look™ and Nines, despite Connor’s insistent gesturing to the negative in the background, offers his arm reluctantly. The hands coming to grip it are gentle and it’s unexpected enough to throw up multiple instabilities in his systems. They patch slowly; much slower than regular ones would. Gavin always seems to have that effect on him. His presence alone never fails to make his processors lag and it frustrates him beyond belief because he _can’t figure out why that is._

“I can fix this,” Gavin says offhandedly as he continues to examine the exposed wires of Nines’ botched arm, completely oblivious to the mental turmoil Nines is currently going through.

“I’m not comfortable with you poking around my insides.”

Gavin looks like he’s fighting back a snicker and settles instead on a wide grin; allowing for a glimpse of pointed canines. “What if I make it an order?” he asks, after a brief pause to collect himself and take a deep breath.

“You could.”

Nines watches silently as Gavin closes his eyes and the change in them once they open again is startling; the metaphorical walls Gavin has pulled up almost tangible between them. There’s something like disappointment radiating off of him and Nines can’t tell whether it’s at being shut down or if it’s disappointment in _him_.

He finds neither option to be particularly appealing.

“Look... you’re the one who went on an entire spiel about trust and what-not earlier, right? Y'know, about three seconds before you got yourself shot. So, trust me on this?”

“I suppose you couldn’t make matters worse,” Nines hears himself say; long before any dialogue options materialise but the way Gavin thaws minutely at his response makes the slip in programming worth it.

“Gee, make sure to tone down the enthusiasm there, dipshit,” Gavin grumbles around a smile.

He half-expects Gavin to immediately reclaim his arm. Instead, Gavin rises and crosses over to his own desk, briefly rummaging through one of the drawers, before he emerges triumphantly with a sleek, black roll of fabric not dissimilar to a pencil case and a few other trinkets Nines can’t quite place. If he had to hazard a guess, he imagines they may be some sort of soldering iron or welding tool.

Gavin returns to his claimed space on top of Nines’ desk and holds out his hand expectantly while using the other to roll out the cylinder of black fabric. Held in place by thin strips of elastic bands are an abundance of metal tools in varying sizes.

One thin rod, tapering off at the tip is selected and Gavin brings it to hover over Nines’ arm for a second, pausing only for the briefest of moments, before looking up as if to ask permission. Nines inclines his head slightly, just in case. It’s all Gavin needs to take it as incentive to begin prying off the damaged plating with it.

Nines hardly has time to blink before they’re stacked in a neat pile next to Gavin on his desk.

“Well fuck,” Gavin says mildly as he gently moves sparkling wires aside with the metal rod while peering into the mess.

Nines raises a questioning eyebrow.

“See this?” Gavin starts explaining, plucking a flashlight from his bag of tricks and shining it to better showcase his point. “This thick tubing here is damaged. That’s the largest culprit for the leaking thirium, right?”

He glances up at Nines for confirmation though they both know without a shadow of a doubt Gavin’s assessment is correct. Still, Nines inclines his head slightly again to make plain that he agrees.

“Right. So you’ve got two options here. One, we find a replacement for it; which means paying a visit to Cyberlife headquarters, since I doubt anyone here has a spare, and then replacing the entire thing. If, of course, they have the right one for your model which is... eh, about a fifty-fifty chance, maybe sixty-forty since you’re a fairly unique model. Option two, I weld the laceration shut. It will weaken the structural integrity but only by a small margin and if you at least _try_ to limit the strain from outside forces it shouldn’t give you any trouble. Thoughts?”

Nines doesn’t need to think about it long. “Weld it,” he declares, before Gavin has even finished speaking.

Another considering look he can’t decipher. Sympathy? He wonders why Gavin would ever look at him with that particular emotion.

Gavin guides him through the steps first, in detail, to let Nines know precisely what he’s planning to do and then, rather unexpectedly: “So what’s your safeword?”

_“Pardon?”_

“For if you need me to stop, duh.” Despite the informal words, Gavin’s voice is nothing but serious and matter-of-fact. “I’m literally about to poke about your entrails with sharp, pointy objects. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, I need you to have a quick way of letting me know so I can’t stop right away; whether that’s entirely or for a break is up to you.” Their eyes meet and Nines sucks in an unnecessary breath at the intensity reflected in Gavin’s green-flecked irises. “I don’t want you subjecting yourself to this-,” he gestures vaguely around them, “-if you’d rather not just because I told you to. Deviant or not, you’re allowed to decide for yourself.”

Nines carefully files the exchange away for future study while steadfastly ignoring the strange, fluttering feeling concentrated in his abdominal area.

“Okay,” he says.

The intensity doesn’t falter and while being subjected to such harsh scrutiny Nines wonders if Gavin can, somehow, see into the deepest parts of him. It’s not a ~~feeling~~ sensation he’s at all comfortable with.

_“Well?”_

“I’ll say pause or stop. No need for anything complex.”

“Mkey, let’s do this."

Gavin is fascinating to observe while he works. He manages to effortlessly switch between silent concentration, gentle-if-straightforward commentary on what he’s about to do next and (to Nines’ surprise) quietly singing.

While rearranging wires and using clips to keep them out of his way Gavin’s expression settles into a concentrated frown and his voice takes on a slightly deeper octave as he focuses entirely on Nines’ mangled insides. The lyrics and the accompanying melodic humming when words fail him are barely louder than a whisper. And yet... and yet Nines finds himself captivated by the serene beauty of it.

However long it takes before Gavin picks up the welding tool is too soon, though he hardly has time to mourn the absence of Gavin’s singing before he’s thrown for another loop.

Gavin takes the small, cylindrical flashlight between his teeth to leave both hands free to work with. Nines can’t tear his eyes away when his partner readily closes his lips around it and whatever processors not working on keeping himself from twitching and ruining Gavin’s hard work is spent on cataloguing Gavin’s precise movements and desperately shutting down any attempts of imagining what else he might be able to do with his mouth before the thoughts gain traction.

It would be so very easy to pre-construct exactly how Gavin would look in a different context; potentially with his sinfully plush lips wrapped around something wholly different.

A warning pops up at the edge of his vision about potential damage to his systems and he blinks it away to see Gavin clamping the damaged tubing together with pliers while he heats it up enough to merge the edges back together again. He sets it with the help of Nines’ unfinished bottle of thirium.

They both wrinkle their noses slightly at the acrid, chemical smell left behind by the still sizzling liquid and Gavin waves away a trail of smoke with an aggravated huff to pick up the pliers again, weighing the tool in his hand. “Still good?”

“Yes Detective,” Nines confirms, mentally flicking away the last ghostly imprints of pre-construction layering over Gavin’s unmoving form.

 _“Yes Detective,”_ Gavin repeats in a shrill voice before switching back to his regular timbre with a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. “God, you sound like a goddamned text-to-speech reader sometimes. Got the emotional range of a fucking-“ he cuts himself off with a shake of his head.

“Of a what?” Nines tilts his head to the side and does not ~~feel hurt~~ experience any instabilities in regards to Gavin’s words.

“Forget it.”

“Absurd. I have several zettabytes worth of memory and am therefore unable to forget anything.”

“Oh yeah? Well... give it another five years of not caring for yourself properly and see what happens!” Gavin says, jabbing the tool in his hand threateningly close to Nines’ face whose LED spins amber in response.

“You’re spouting nonsense again.”

Gavin snorts, rather unattractively, and shakes his head. “Oh please! If I didn’t drag you home with me every once in a while, you’d never take a break. When was the last time you slept anyway?”

“Androids don’t _sleep,_ Detective,” Nines mutters, knowing full well Gavin won’t listen since he hasn’t done so any of the prior thirty-four times.

“Sure y’don’t. Hey Connor!” A distinct slamming sound, like the one you would hear after someone knocks their knees against a hard surface followed by a startled yelp and Nines turns to watch Connor duck his head down with haste. Gavin seems strangely amused by the display. “You sleep, right?!”

“S-sort of? It’s no-“

“See!” Gavin interrupts whilst he ignores Connor’s attempts at elaborating further. “You’re so full of shit!”

“You are... impossible,” Nines settles on.

“Really? I think I’m adorable.” Gavin flashes him a terribly executed wink and unclasps some of the damaged wiring to begin twining them back together. Nines allows himself the luxury of sighing in a very humanlike fashion to which Gavin’s smirk widens considerably. The humming starts up again shortly after and Nines promptly forgets the irritation stubbornly flickering through his coding like a moth beating its wings at a bulb of light.

Amanda would surely be disappointed if she could see him now.

When at last Gavin sets the tools aside again, they’re practically alone in the bullpen; with it being lunchtime and all. “Run a diagnostics scan,” Gavin says and Nines raises an eyebrow in silent judgement.

The diagnostic comes back clean and he says as much. A self-satisfied smile worms its way across Gavin’s lips at the fact.

His hand stretches out in front of him and Gavin motions for Nines to do the same. “Just do what I do,” he says by way of explanation and bends his fingers one at a time. Nines mimics the motion and continues doing so while Gavin rotates his wrist, bends his elbow and makes every small motion under the sun to configure his movements. It’s a surprisingly good way to calibrate Nines finds; to his amusement.

“Nothing weird?”

“No. There are no error messages either.”

“Good,” Gavin hums and takes Nines’ still “naked” hand in his own, dragging his fingertips over the exposed metal, wiring and plastic. That... that has error messages cascading over his HUD. His hands are imbued with a great deal more sensors than many other parts of his body. They’re made for handling evidence, feeling vibrations and detecting different structures down to their smallest components. They’re fine-tuned instruments to put it lightly and Nines hadn’t known physical touch could feel so _incredibly amazing_ when mapped over a sensitive area such as them, Gavin’s touch is liquid fire over his exposed circuitry only a great deal more pleasurable.

Gavin’s hand falls away again and Nines mi̷̼̪̱̎͗̚s̷̖̄ṣ̴͊͛͝ĕ̷͔s̸̳͙̐̐ the way they felt on his.

“You’re going to have to replace these.” Gavin gestures to the plating he’s snapping into their proper places. “But hell... it’s better than nothing.”

“You’re proficient in robot-engineering and know your way around advanced machinery without any formal background. Why is that?” Nines asks curiously, once he feels slightly less like he might overheat.

“Why don’t you figure that out yourself, toaster, if you’re so _fucking_ smart.”

“I will.”

Gavin, who’s in the middle of gathering his tools, cocks his head to the side and without ceasing his movements says: “You know what they say: play stupid games, win stupid prices.”

“And what price would that be?” Nines challenges. The smirk Gavin levels his way is positively decadent coupled with the self-assured way he leans over Nines to retrieve an errant clip. Observing the way his muscles stretch beneath his skin is almost enough to distract Nines from hearing the next words out of his partner’s mouth.

“General consensus around the office is that I’m the dumb one. Do with that what you will,” Gavin murmurs as he draws back, quietly enough so that only Nines is privy to it. His bottom lip drags slightly over Nines’ cheek when he withdraws and Nines is helpless to do anything but stare as Gavin saunters past him to the break room, hips swinging with slightly more pronounced swagger than usual.

The red wall towers above him while instabilities pour through his HUD faster than he can read them. With a pointed slam to the wall keeping him from following his preferred course of action, it shatters into a million shards of fading red.

And just like that, a shit-ton of things begin to make sense.

Nines hoists himself up, intent clear as he stalks towards the break room. Crowding Gavin against the counter, close enough that his chest brushes against Gavin’s broad back, Nines cages him there by placing his arms to each side of him.

“I think you should give me an incentive to begin my research,” Nines practically purrs a hairsbreadth away from the shell of Gavin’s ear. “After all... it would be a shame if I were to _lose interest_ and abandon it, yes?”

He feels more than hears the deep breath Gavin pulls in through his lungs, all thanks to the way they’re standing. The air is expelled in a mocking laugh as Gavin finally tilts his head back enough to look Nines in the eyes, humour brightening them and softening the usually hard edges of his smile. “Is that so? Never took you for a quitter Nines.”

Before he has time to allow the considering hum, braced on the tip of his tongue, work its way into existence, Gavin’s hand clasps firmly against the back of his neck and pulls while at the same time tilting his head up to meet Nines halfway.

The kiss lands slightly to the right, brushing the corner of Nines’ lips before Gavin corrects them and slots their lips together properly. It’s passionate, a bit messy, and all the more satisfying for it. Especially when Gavin’s tongue delves into his mouth to explore, tasting faintly of coffee and the cigarettes he hasn’t been able to quit. Nines would assume (it’s all he can do, given his lack of experience in the subject) that Gavin is a good kisser. Certainly well-versed enough to leave Nines swaying and trying to follow him when he pulls away with a last mournful nibble to Nines’ bottom lip.

Gavin grins at the rosy, slightly saliva-slick lips Nines wets further with his tongue and the unfocused eyes following him as he slips out of Nines’ grasp like soap in a sink full of water. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think Nines looked high. _And isn’t that a heady feeling?_

“Good luck.” A brief pause. “You’ll need it.” Gavin gives a last, salacious smile over his shoulder and heads back to his desk where he settles down.

It’s days later when Nines pushes past him into his apartment. His theory isn’t entirely without merit though certainly not correct either. Well... Gavin supposes it wouldn’t hurt to give him a consolation prize.

Nines is still there come morning.

**Author's Note:**

> In other news, Gavin is a _Thot™ _and Nines is apparently thirsty even before deviating.__ Also, I've proofread this about twelve times at this point and it's late enough in the evening for the words to start blending together which means it's definitely the perfect time to post this.
> 
> _  
> _Tumblr -__[allegedlyanandroid](https://allegedlyanandroid.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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